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Generally the accelerators type identifies the edge computing performance hugely and it includes Integrated Circuit (IC), Graphical Processing Unit (GPU) and Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). Among these accelerator FPGAs are widely used in several edge computing areas since it has the ability to reconfigure and has high energy efficient. The consequence also comes out with the paradigm of scheduling efficiency on CPU’s (software tasks) and FPGA (hardware tasks). However the conventional schemes not entirely exploited the variations among hardware and software tasks which results in low scheduling efficiency. Therefore a task scheduling system is proposed on basis of fully active reconfigurable system. The scheduling efficiency for the proposed scheme can be increased by switching the task overheads and by predicting the execution time for hardware with minimum task switching times.

Background Chondrocyte transplantation to address cartilage damage is an established solution. Because hyaluronic acid (HA) is an essential component for homeostasis of the cartilage, in order to arrive at methodologies to utilize its advantages in cell-based therapies, we compared the HA retention capability of a thermoreversible gelation polymer scaffold-based environment (3D-TGP) with conventional in vitro cell culture methodologies. Methods Chondrocytes derived from osteoarthritis-affected knee joint cartilage of elderly patients were used and accomplished in three phases. In Phase I, the levels of HA secreted by chondrocytes were measured in culture supernatant. In Phase II, retention capacity of externally added HA was quantified indirectly by measuring the HA released in culture supernatant, and in Phase III, the expression of CD44 on cells was analysed by immunohistochemistry. Results In Phase I, the average HA in the 3D supernatant was 3% that of 2D. In phase II, 80% of externally added HA was detected in the 2D on day 7, while in 3D-TGP, only 0.1% was released until day 21. In Phase III, 2D yielded individual cells that started degenerating from the third week; in 3D-TGP cells grew for a longer duration, formed a tissue-like architecture with extracellular matrix with significantly intense staining of CD44 than 2D. Conclusion The capability of the 3D-TGP culture environment to retain HA and support chondrocytes to grow with a tissue-like architecture expressing higher HA content is considered advantageous as it serves as an in vitro culture platform that enables tissue engineering of cartilage tissue with native hyaline phenotype and higher HA expression. The in vitro environment being conducive, based on this data, we also recommend that the TGP be tried as an encapsulation material in clinical studies of chondrocyte implantation for optimal clinical outcome.

Purpose The purpose of this study was to assess for any differences in brain maturation, structure and morphometry in fetuses exposed to opioids in utero, compared to non-opioid exposed fetuses on fetal MRI. Methods We performed a prospective study in pregnant women using opioids and healthy pregnant women without prenatal opioid use. We evaluated brain maturation, structure, and morphometry on second or third trimester fetal MRI and assessed group differences. Results 28 pregnant women were enrolled, 12 with opioid exposure (average gestational age 33.67, range 28–39 w), 9 of whom also smoked, and 16 without opioid exposure (average gestational age 32.53, range 27–38 w). There was a significant difference in the anteroposterior diameter of the fetal cerebellar vermis in the opioid exposed fetuses compared to non-opioid exposed fetuses (p = 0.004). There were no significant differences in brain biparietal diameter, fronto-occipital diameter, transverse cerebellar diameter and anteroposterior dimension of the pons in opioid exposed fetuses compared to non-opioid exposed fetuses. There were no abnormalities in brain maturation and no major brain structural abnormalities in the opioid exposed fetuses. Conclusion Smaller fetal anteroposterior cerebellar vermian dimension was associated with in utero opioid exposure. There were no abnormalities in brain maturation or major structural abnormalities in fetuses exposed to opioids.

Cardiovascular disease risk increases with age regardless of sex. Some of this risk is attributable to alterations in natural hormones throughout the life span. The quintessential example of this being the dramatic increase in cardiovascular disease following the transition to menopause. Plasma levels of adiponectin, a “cardioprotective” adipokine released primarily by adipose tissue and regulated by hormones, also fluctuate throughout one’s life. Plasma adiponectin levels increase with age in both men and women, with higher levels in both pre- and postmenopausal women compared with men. Younger cohorts seem to confer cardioprotective benefits from increased adiponectin levels yet elevated levels in the elderly and those with existing heart disease are associated with poor cardiovascular outcomes. Here, we review the most recent data regarding adiponectin signaling in the vasculature, highlight the differences observed between the sexes, and shed light on the apparent paradox regarding increased cardiovascular disease risk despite rising plasma adiponectin levels over time.

Face recognition is one of the best applications of computer recognition and recent smart house applications. Therefore, it draws considerable attention from researchers. Several face recognition algorithms have been proposed in the last decade, but these methods did not give the efficient outcome. Therefore, this work introduces a novel constructive training algorithm for smart face recognition in door locking applications. The proposed Framed Recurrent Neural Network with Mutated Dragonfly Search Optimization (FRNN-MDSO) Strategy is applied to face recognition application. The steady preparing system has been utilized where the training designs are adapted steadily and are divided into completely different modules. The facial feature process works on global and local features. After the feature extraction and selection process, employ the improved classifier followed by the Framed Recurrent Neural Network classification technique. Finally, the face image based on the feature library can be identified. The proposed Framed Recurrent Neural Network with Mutated Dragonfly Search Optimization starts with a single training pattern using Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT) model. During network training, the Training Data (TD) decrease the Mean Square Error (MSE) while the matching process increases the algorithms generated which are trapped at the local minimum. The training data have been trained to increase the number of input forms (one after the other) until all the forms are selected and trained. An FRNN-MDSO based face recognition system is built, and face recognition is tested using hyperspectral Database parameters. The simulation results indicate that the proposed method acquires the associate grade optimum design of FRNN with MDSO methodology using the present constructive algorithm and prove the proposed FRNN-MDSO method’s effectiveness compared to the conventional architecture methods.

Trust-based secure routing schemes are more effective than cryptographic routing protocols to convey energy-efficient data in WSNs since cryptographic protocols require high computation, more convergence time as well as storage space. The paper presents a well-organized trust estimation-based routing scheme (ETERS) that consists multi-trust (communication trust, energy trust, data trust) approach to alleviate several internal attacks like badmouthing, Sybil, selective forwarding, on–off,​ black hole, and gray-hole attacks for clustered WSN. The proposed multi-trust approach is used to analyze the credibility of sensitive monitored data. A novel and efficient cluster head selection algorithm (ECHSA) is employed to improve the performance of the cluster head (CH) selection process in clustered WSN. ECHSA allows the facility to elect a robust CH after a certain period to perform an equal load balance on all CHs. ETERS utilizes the Beta distribution-based trust function because recovery of trust values under attacks is faster in Beta distribution than Gaussian and Dirichlet distribution. ETERS also incorporates an irregular attenuation factor during the evaluation of communication trust to reflect the effect of various external factors such as natural calamity (earthquake), network congestion, etc., based on the trust values. However, a trust-based attack detection algorithm (TADA) assesses the reliability of SNs to detect internal attacks. TADA employs IDs, locations, and triple trust to detect internal attacks. Additionally, the proposed trust system employs an adjustable dynamic sliding length logical timing window to eradicate the limitations of existing trust models. Furthermore, a trust-based secure routing algorithm is incorporated to dynamically detect misbehavior in terms of packet forwarding for energy-efficient communication among sensor nodes. ETERS is compared with QEBSR, ATRP, ELPC, and SQEER to examine its performance. Experimental results on the MATLAB simulation platform exhibit excellent performance in terms of severity analysis, attack detection, and prevention to protect WSN, energy consumption under (i) normal (ii) attack scenario, latency (in sec.), packet delivery ratio (PDR), and throughput (in %) in the existence of spiteful nodes.

Background A pilot study reported an autologous buccal mucosal cell transplant in humans through the trans-urethral route using the buccal epithelium expanded and encapsulated in scaffold—hybrid approach to urethral stricture (BEES-HAUS), a minimally invasive approach to treat urethral stricture. Although successful outcomes were achieved in that study, for further validation, it is essential to prove that the transplanted buccal epithelium was engrafted over the urothelium through histological examination of the urethra, harvested post-transplant, which is infeasible in humans. Herein, we report the successful creation of an animal model of urethral stricture and the engraftment of epithelial cells derived from autologous buccal mucosal tissue, encapsulated in a thermo-reversible gelation polymer (TGP) scaffold, transplanted by trans-urethral route. Methods An animal model of urethral stricture was created in Japanese white male rabbits using electro-coagulation. Buccal tissue was harvested from the rabbits and subjected to enzyme digestion, followed by 5–7 days of in vitro culture in conventional two-dimensional (2D) culture and in a 3D platform of thermo-reversible gelation polymer (3D-TGP) culture. The cells harvested from the groups were mixed and encapsulated and transplanted with TGP, by transurethral catheterization. Fourteen days later, the urethra was harvested and subjected to histological examination. The buccal biopsy tissue, cells after digestion and cells post-culture were also subjected to histological examination. Urethrogram and endoscopy images were recorded at different time points. Results The stricture was successfully created, with the coagulated area markedly stenosed. Histological staining of the cells after in vitro processing showed that the cells grew with native epithelial and rounded cell morphology in 3D-TGP while they differentiated into fibroblast like-cells in 2D culture. Histological staining of the urethral tissue after transplantation revealed the engraftment of the transplanted buccal mucosal cells, with stratified squamous epithelium over the specialized stratified urothelium in the urethrotomy site. Conclusion We used histology to prove the successful engraftment of TGP-encapsulated buccal mucosal epithelial cells in an animal model of urethral injury with healing of the injured tissue. The model of urethral stricture and cell therapy, using a transurethral approach, recapitulates the previously reported BEES-HAUS approach and lays the foundation for larger multi-centric translational clinical studies., Highlights • An animal model of urethral stricture that closely resembles that occurring in humans could be created. • Trans-urethral transplantation of polymer scaffold encapsulated buccal mucosal epithelial cells could be accomplished. • Successful engraftment of transplanted cells onto urethrotomy site with healing, proven in this first of its kind report.

Cloud computing provides computing resources on demand of users without their direct management. In this cloud paradigm, scheduling the tasks and allocating the resources become major aspect for cloud infrastructure as a service (IaaS). There are more existing algorithms and techniques suggested for task allocation problem. Still there is challenging research on efficient scheduling. To address this issue, many researches are in progress and all of them having their own drawbacks. In this paper, we are proposing a queue-based scheduling strategy with load balancing called as IQSLB and an extended IQSLB also proposed for dealing with critical situations. The proposed strategy calculates the placement value of the tasks in queue with the current status of the virtual machine (VM) in cluster and reshuffles the task accordingly. The extended IQSLB deals with handling deadlock situation where VM cannot adopt task for execution and task will be reshuffled with another task in another queue. The proposed strategy is compared with few existing systems, and the performance evaluation proves that IQSLB schedules tasks more efficiently than other systems. Our proposed IQSLB takes 75 s to allocate 1000 tasks by using 55 virtual machines which is much lesser than existing techniques.

Purpose of Review This review article aims to explore the GI changes induced by SARS-CoV-2 and how gut microbial homeostasis can influence these changes and affect the lung-gut axis and its relationship with the induction of the cytokine release syndrome in severe COVID-19 patients. Recent Findings Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) affects not only the respiratory system but can produce multi-systemic damage. The expression of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE-2) receptors in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, the high prevalence of GI symptoms in severely ill COVID-19 patients, and the abnormalities described in the gut microbiome in these patients have raised concerns about the influence of GI tract as a risk factor or as a potential modulator to reduce the severity of COVID-19. Summary Understanding the mechanisms by which gut dysbiosis may influence viral transmission and disease progression in COVID-19 may help in shaping how accessible therapies, like diet modulation, can potentially help beat the devastating consequences of COVID-19.

Autologous chondrocytes in vitro expanded, are used as tools of regenerative therapies for cartilage injuries. However, inability to maintain the hyaline phenotype both in vitro and post in vivo transplantation, remains one of the major hurdles for long term efficacy under clinical settings. We have reported earlier, hyaline phenotype maintenance of both human and rabbit chondrocytes for a long duration both in vitro when cultured conditions using a Thermo-reversible Gelation Polymer (TGP) scaffold-based methodology and in vivo post-transplantation animal model of cartilage damage. Having intrigued by such encouraging outcome, we in this study, analysed the similar TGP culture environment whether would be able to allow in vitro expansion of severe osteoarthritis affected cartilage tissue from elderly patients and evaluated the cells using lectin microarray characterization for pluripotency. Cartilage tissue were obtained from patients (n = 7; age: 60–85 years) undergoing total knee arthroplasty for severe osteoarthritis. Chondrocytes were isolated and cultured in two groups: i. conventional culture without scaffold (2D) and ii. using a TGP scaffold-based culture (3D) up to 18 weeks. In addition to earlier reported findings such as maintenance of hyaline phenotype having been confirmed in this study as well, surface glycoprotein analysis by lectin microarray demonstrated that the α1-2 Fuc recognition lectin (UEA-1) (marker reported in literature for pluripotent stem cells) was found to be more highly expressed in 3D culture compared to 2D culture and even increased over time in 3D culture. We have developed an environment where osteoarthritis affected chondrocytes from the elderly could be cultured up to 18 weeks in vitro using TGP scaffold which express pluripotent cell associated surface glycoproteins compared to the conventional methodology., Highlights • Good quality chondrocytes were grown from cartilage tissue of elderly with severe osteoarthritis for 18 weeks in vitro. • Inflamed donor chondrocytes could be revived to form normal tissue in a 3D in vitro TGP scaffold environment. • Pluripotent stem cell marker UEA-1 in Lectin microarray was positive in TGP- Polymer scaffold grown cartilage.

A Mutual Fund is a professionally-managed form of collective investments that pools money from many investors and invests it in stocks, bonds, short-term money market instruments, and/or other securities. Mutual Fund is a trust that pools the savings of a number of investors who share a common financial goal. This pool of money is invested in accordance with a stated objective. The joint ownership of the fund is thus “Mutual”, i.e. the fund belongs to all investors. The money thus collected is then invested in capital market instruments such as shares, debentures and other securities. The income earned through these investments and the capital appreciations realized are shared by its unit holders in proportion the number of units owned by them. Thus a Mutual Fund is the most suitable investment for the common man as it offers an opportunity to invest in a diversified, professionally managed basket of securities at a relatively low cost.

Introduction Molars have been known to display varied morphologies. Maxillary first molar is the tooth with the largest volume and most complex root and root canal anatomy; also, possibly the most treated and least understood posterior tooth. The present study aimed to investigate the occurrence and morphology of MB2 canals in maxillary first molars in an Indian subpopulation (Dakshina kannada) using cone beam CT (CBCT) imaging. Materials and Methods A total of 330 maxillary molars were placed on “U-” shaped modelling wax template, mimicking the natural arch and digitally scanned, of which 196 scans met the inclusion criteria and were analyzed for unusual root canal anatomy by CBCT. To analyze the occurrence and morphology of the canals, the acquired data was examined by two endodontists and discussed till an agreement was reached. Results The results were subjected to descriptive analysis. The majority of patients 103 (52.6%) teeth showed the presence of MB2 canals. As much as 83.5% of teeth depicted Vertucci's type II morphology, and 16.5% teeth presented with Vertucci's type IV morphology. Conclusion CBCT overcomes the limitations of conventional radiography. However, the decision to use CBCT in the management of endodontic problems must be based on a case-by-case basis and only when sufficient diagnostic information is not obtained from diagnostic tests.

Composite materials are used as structural components in many disciplines. The structures may become prone to damage during the service conditions. The damage types are surface crack, edge crack, and delamination. The damage may lead to abrupt failure of the big composite structures. To prevent the abrupt failure, the damage should be detected at the earliest by monitoring the damage indicators. The change in natural frequency of the structure is considered as one of the damage indicators. The cantilever beam is considered here to understand the natural frequency variation with crack location and crack length. The natural frequency decreases with increasing edge crack length and the natural frequency reduction is more toward the fixed end compared to the free end of the beam. The crack location and length of an edge crack of size 1 mm have also been predicted by using the feed forward neural network. The inputs to the neural network were frequency change rates and the outputs were crack location and length. Neural network of 3-12-2 architecture is able to predict the crack location and length with more than 94% accuracy. The accuracy of the location of the edge crack prediction is more when compared to the crack length prediction.

A new topology of photovoltaic (PV) based transformerless dynamic voltage restorer (TDVR) with high gain DC-DC boost converter is proposed to mitigate voltage sag and swell, interruptions, and unba...

Medical image segmentation techniques have become a very imperative prerequisite for accuracy and easiness of diagnosis in image analysis processes. An effective and novel segmentation technique is...

Urinary progranulin is an inflammatory marker that may indicate renal damage at an early stage of diabetic nephropathy. To determine urinary level of progranulin in patients with type 2 diabetic nephropathy and to ascertain its correlation with renal function. This was a cross-sectional comparative study that was carried out at Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research (JIPMER), Pondicherry, India. Thirty-three control subjects and 99 diabetic patients (divided into 3 equal groups based on urinary albumin excretion) were included. Albuminuria was detected by dipstick method in a spot urine sample for all subjects. Urinary albumin level was estimated by nephelometry for diabetic subjects who had trace or no albuminuria by dipstick method. Urinary progranulin was estimated by ELISA technique for all study subjects. eGFR (estimated glomerular filtration rate) was calculated by chronic kidney disease epidemiology collaboration (CKD-EPI) formula for all study subjects. Urinary progranulin levels were found to be significantly elevated in diabetic patients as compared to the control subjects (p

BACKGROUND Alcohol use disorder is one of the dangerous public health burden. The construct of impulsivity and its various dimensions in relation with aggression are relevant for understanding alcohol dependence and relapse. The goal of the study is to describe the role of impulsivity and aggression in the context of alcohol dependence. The purpose and implications of this study was to understand the human factors contributing to aggression and impulsivity and in providing advanced treatment programs. METHODS This cross-sectional study was discussed in detail and approved by the ethical committee of the Madras Medical College. The cases were selected consecutively from all the patients attending the outpatients as well as inpatient for the same after fulfilling the inclusion and exclusion criteria, within seven days of last intake of alcohol. The diagnosis was made according to International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) criteria after ruling out psychotic disorder and other comorbid medical illnesses. Informed consent was obtained from all the patients and caregivers. Descriptive statistics used meticulously to measure the magnitude. RESULTS This study found significant positive correlation (P < 0.001) between impulsivity, aggression subtypes with alcohol dependence. Various subsets in Barrett impulsivity scale (BIS) and subsets of Buss Perry aggression scales (BPAS) had positive correlations. We found that as severity of dependence increases, impulsivity and aggression scores increases and vice versa. The comparison of means of illness variables within groups showed that there was no significant difference between groups in terms of age of onset of illness, last alcohol intake, number of hospital admissions, duration of abstinence and frequency of relapse. CONCLUSIONS This study describes the important role of behavioural model and disease model of alcoholism, 1,2 greatly stresses the inability to control the quantity and frequency of the drinking behaviour. There is higher level of connectivity between alcohol dependence with biological and behavioural indicators of impulsivity and aggression. 3 It supports that relapse is an acquired behaviour in which the individual is able to control his substance taking pattern through adequate cognitive behavioural techniques in addition to pharmacological treatment and also suggest more research needed in future to focus on causality and intervention. KEY WORDS Impulsivity, Aggression, Alcohol dependence, Relapse

Allergic Rhinitis is one of the most common disease causing much debility and loss of efficiency of an individual. Allergic rhinitis can occur continuously or intermittently throughout the year by an allergen to which the individual is more or less always exposed, characterized by sudden attack of sneezing, swelling of nasal mucosa, profuse watery discharge, itching of eyes and lachrymation. This study is to know the effectiveness of Homoeopathic medicines in the treatment of Allergic Rhinitis.

Sandwich panels are used in buildings because of their light weight, thermal insulation, sound absorption, and better mechanical properties. Material scientists have been trying their best to replace synthetic materials as these are non-biodegradable. Stringent environmental policies, need for eco-friendly products, and problems in end-of-life disposal have made natural materials in sandwich panels the need of the hour. This research work attempts to replace the synthetic sandwich panels with natural sandwich panels without sacrificing the performance. The natural sandwich panels used in this work had agglomerated cork as the core and flax fiber as skin reinforcement. A vacuum-bagging technique was used to manufacture these panels with three core densities and three skin reinforcements. The performance of these panels was confirmed by conducting flatwise tensile, flatwise compressive, and edgewise compressive tests as per the American Society for Testing and Materials standards and the results are discussed in this article. The specific flatwise tensile strength of natural sandwich panels was 14–21% higher and the specific flatwise compressive strength was 2–10% higher than the synthetic sandwich panels. The edgewise compressive strength was found to be 32–34% lower than synthetic sandwich panels. The results suggest that natural sandwich panel could be a better alternative material for building applications.

During pregnancy, circulatory cortisol levels increase, remaining steady over the second-third trimester. In contrast, profile of salivary cortisol during pregnancy is debatable, more influenced by factors like time of sample collection in the day. Circulatory DHEA-S decrease by at least 50% over the second-third trimester of pregnancy. However, profile of salivary DHEA-S is unclear. Objective was to determine changes in salivary cortisol and DHEA-S in healthy pregnant women, compared to non-pregnant women during late morning-early afternoon sampling to avoid fluctuations associated with other times. Pregnant women in their second-third trimester prospectively (n=500) and non-pregnant women (n=133) were enrolled in study with informed consent. Live birth outcome with no pregnancy complications and≥2.5 Kg infant birth weight were included. Concentrations of salivary cortisol and DHEA-S were determined through ELISA assays. Compared to non-pregnant women, pregnant women demonstrated significant increases in salivary cortisol [median (interquartile range)=4.2 (5.1) nmol/l vs. 17.2 (13.9) nmol/l, p

Healthcare is the most important need of today’s era. Healthcare refers to the improvement of the human health by preventing, curing, diagnosing, recovering from a health hazard caused. Thus, to improve the health condition of a human system technology, such as machine learning, deep learning and artificial intelligence has come into play. The combination of artificial technology with the health sector has made a huge impact and success on the world. Curing millions of diseases, analysis of various infections, providing accurate test results and high-level maintenance check are now all possible with the evolution of technology. Every part of human body can now be diagnosed and analyze to study all kinds of tissues, blood vessels, organs, cells for improvement of health and curing of diseases. Research sector has been working with a continuous pace to accomplish various studies to identify different body organs and have a descriptive study for the identification of proper working mechanism of the human body. One such study has also shown a huge progress in the recent times, the identification of glomeruli in human kidney tissue. The tiny ball like structured which is composed of blood vessels that has an actively participation in the filtration of the blood to form urine. Thus, the paper presents a deep learning-based model formed for the identification of these glomeruli present in the human kidney. After implementing, the proposed model obtained an accuracy of 99.68% with a dice coefficient of 0.9060.

Context Cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone-sulfate (DHEA-S) are indispensable hormones for normal pregnancy. It is unclear if these hormones, specifically DHEA-S can offer value for predicting poor birth outcome. Objective To compare prenatal cortisol and DHEA-S levels among pregnant women with normal or poor birth outcome. Design-patients Plasma and saliva were collected prospectively from women in second-third trimester of pregnancy. Women with normal birth outcome (NBO), (n=501) included live birth, no pregnancy complications and ≥ 2.5Kg infant birth weight. Women with poor birth outcome included adverse birth (ABO), (n=50) or low birth weight outcome (LBW), (n=147). Measurements ELISA was performed to measure hormone concentrations in plasma and saliva. Results Circulatory-DHEA-S levels in pregnant women with ABO were higher than women with NBO (p=0.043). Among ABO, only stillbirth cases demonstrated significant increase in circulatory-DHEA-S levels (p=0.006). Circulatory and salivary cortisol/DHEA-S ratio was lower among women with stillbirth (p=0.004) and ABO outcome (p=0.043) respectively compared to women with NBO. Consistently, increased odds of ABO were observed in pregnant women with highest circulatory-DHEA-S levels (odds ratio quartile score 1 vs 4, 2.79, p=0.027) and lowest salivary cortisol/DHEA-S ratio (score 4 vs 2, 2.83, p=0.025). Increased odds of stillbirth outcome were observed in pregnant women with highest circulatory-DHEA-S levels (odds ratio quartile score 1 vs 4, 8.47, p=0.046) and lowest circulatory cortisol/DHEA-S ratio (score 4 vs 1, 4.803, p=0.048). Associations remained significant after adjusting for confounders. Women with LBW did not demonstrate significant changes in cortisol or DHEA-S levels. Conclusion Prenatal measurement of DHEA-S or cortisol/DHEA-S ratio may offer significant value for predicting adverse birth, specifically stillbirth outcome. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Methadone is a synthetic opioid used as an analgesic and for the treatment of opioid abuse disorder. The analgesic dose in the pediatric population is not well‐defined. The pharmacokinetics (PKs) of methadone is highly variable due to the variability in alpha‐1 acid glycoprotein (AAG) and genotypic differences in drug‐metabolizing enzymes. Additionally, the R and S enantiomers of methadone have unique PK and pharmacodynamic properties. This study aims to describe the PKs of R and S methadone and its metabolite 2‐ethylidene‐1,5‐dimethyl‐3,3‐diphenylpyrrolidine (EDDP) in pediatric surgical patients and to identify sources of inter‐ and intra‐individual variability. Children aged 8–17.9 years undergoing orthopedic surgeries received intravenous methadone 0.1 mg/kg intra‐operatively followed by oral methadone 0.1 mg/kg postoperatively every 12 h. Pharmacokinetics of R and S methadone and EDDP were determined using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry assays and the data were modeled using nonlinear mixed‐effects modeling in NONMEM. R and S methadone PKs were well‐described by two‐compartment disposition models with first‐order absorption and elimination. EDDP metabolites were described by one compartment disposition models with first order elimination. Clearance of both R and S methadone were allometrically scaled by bodyweight. CYP2B6 phenotype was a determinant of the clearance of both the enantiomers in an additive gene model. The intronic CYP3A4 single‐nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs2246709 was associated with decreased clearance of R and S methadone. Concentrations of AAG and the SNP of AAG rs17650 independently increased the volume of distribution of both the enantiomers. The knowledge of these important covariates will aid in the optimal dosing of methadone in children.

Cold-Formed Steel (CFS) is widely used in all types of buildings as load-bearing and non-load bearing members. The codes IS 801, AS/NZS 4600, BS 5950, EN 1993-1.3 and Direct Strength Method (DSM) are used to design the CFS elements at ambient temperature and EN1993-1.2 allows the design elements with limiting temperature of 350 °C by assuming CFS as slender sections. Several studies have reported on the behaviour of cold-formed compression members subjected to elevated temperature by experimentally and numerically under steady-state temperature condition and minimal studies on the transient temperature condition. In this paper, the restrained CFS channel compression members' buckling behaviour in transient state condition is studied numerically. The numerical model is calibrated with the past experimental work. A parametric study has been conducted by varying the member's slenderness ratio and width to thickness ratio of the section. Based on the results, it is found that the peak and critical temperature of the column reducing with the increase in the initial applied load level and the width to thickness ratio of the section. Also, it is observed that the failure mode of the long column is different from the short column under thermal loading. The buckling curves of the compression members under axial load are presented based on the parametric study.

In intrusion detection, approaches incorporated with data mining become interesting nowadays, in particular the associative classification which is a hybrid technique which uses pruning measure. Although the full rules set is not intended for precise classification, the rules have been used effectively by classifiers that have been built in previous systems. Class detection by variance process uses the association rule mining concept for discovering the association among data variables, and the gained information about different patterns is used to classify the variables into different classes. Using the identified centroids, numerical data is discretized and fed to rule precision index (RPI) classifier for rule induction. Popular Data mining tools operate this technique in the name association based on classification (CBA) which uses confidence as an interest measure for rule pruning. In this work, we present a new interest measure named rule precision index (RPI) which helps us to prune association rules efficiently, and the impact is observed in the classification of attack and non-attack. The resultant associate method produces the best performance among association-based classifiers and is evaluated with conventional classifiers against three different intrusion detection datasets, namely NSL-KDD, CICIDS-2017 and KDD CUP99. The proposed RPI classifier, incorporated with novel interest measure, provides the best accuracy rate of 89.48 % on average than the available classifiers.

Iron deficiency anaemia (IDA) and anaemia of chronic disease (ACD) are common causes of anaemia with similar clinical and laboratory features. IDA is caused by low iron stores while ACD is due to iron-restricted erythropoiesis occurring in inflammatory states. Differential diagnosis requires analysis of multiple biochemical and haematological parameters. IDA can occur simultaneously to ACD (mixed aetiology). It is essential that true iron deficiency is identified, as these patients will require iron therapy. This preliminary study investigated whether hepcidin, the master regulator of iron homeostasis, in conjunction with reticulocyte haemoglobin equivalent (RetHe) has the potential to differentiate IDA from ACD, and to exclude IDA in patients with mixed aetiology.Hepcidin concentration (measured using a commercially available ELISA method), RetHe, and iron parameters along with C-reactive protein (CRP) were analysed in 77 Gastroenterology patients with anaemia in a secondary care setting.Receiver operator characteristic (ROC) analysis showed that hepcidin at an optimal cut-off concentration of6ng/ml could identify IDA with a sensitivity and specificity of 88.9% and 90.6% respectively and could distinguish ACD from IDA with both a sensitivity and specificity of 100% at a cut-off of46ng/ml. Identifying true IDA in mixed aetiology patients could be achieved by RetHe analysis and applying an optimal cut-off of30pg.Hepcidin, in conjunction with RetHe, offers a new simplified diagnostic pathway for differential diagnosis of IDA and ACD, thereby reducing the diagnostic turnaround time and allowing appropriate treatment of patients with a true iron deficiency.

Internet of things (IoT) is an incipient technology that concentrates on connecting various things or devices to each other. In IoT, user lightweight authentication has become an important issue that is limited in time. Existing authentication techniques increase the data exchange overhead and reduce the network scalability. This paper proposes physical features based key management and authentication technique (PFKMA) for IoT networks. The public key is derived using the best attributes gathered from network traffic data in this methodology. A tag will be created by the trusted third party (TTP) using these features to derive a public key. The overall trust value of each device, which is obtained from the behavior and data trust values, is treated as a distinct characteristic and utilized to generate the private key. When the authenticator gets the requester's tag, message, and signature, the tag is checked for validity first, and then the signature is verified with the tag and the received message. By experimental results, we show that the PFKMA reduces the overhead and enhances the scalability.

BACKGROUND Cadmium (Cd) is an environmental pollutant that accumulates in various organs such as liver, kidney, and other organs. It generates reactive oxygen species, thereby resulting in pathological changes in the organs it accumulates in by depleting antioxidants. Apium graveolens (AG) and Aloe vera (AV) are rich sources of antioxidants. Zinc (Zn) is an important antioxidant trace element present in various tissues and this protects the organs from the toxic effects of cadmium. We wanted to compare the protective effect of AG and AV with and without Zn supplementation in Cd exposed liver and kidneys of Wistar rats. METHODS Male Wistar albino rats were divided into 11 groups. The control group received only vehicle, the experimental groups were administered with 10 mg / Kg bw of CdCl2, 40mg / Kg bw of ZnCl2, 200 mg / Kg bw of AG and AV, 400mg / K bw AG and AV separately and in combination. After 56 days, the animals were sacrificed and histopathology was done. RESULTS Cd resulted in significant tissue damage of liver and kidney. AG, AV and Zn were able to offer protection to these tissues. CONCLUSIONS AG, AV and Zn by virtue of their antioxidant properties, protect the liver and kidney from damages due to Cd more effectively in rats. KEY WORDS Cadmium, Zinc, Kidney, Liver, Apium graveolens, Aloe vera

Aim: Methadone exhibits significant variability in clinical response. This study explores the genetic influence of variable methadone pharmacokinetics. Methods: This is a prospective study of methadone in children undergoing major surgery. CYP2B6 genotyping, plasma methadone and metabolite levels were obtained. Clinical outcomes include pain scores and postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV). Results: CYP2B6 poor metabolizers (*6/*6) had >twofold lower methadone metabolism compared with normal/rapid metabolizers. The incidence of PONV was 4.7× greater with CYP2B6 rs1038376 variant. AG/GG variants of rs2279343 SNP had 2.86-fold higher incidence of PONV compared with the wild variant ( AA). Nominal associations between rs10500282, rs11882424, rs4803419 and pain scores were observed. Conclusion: We have described novel associations between CYP2B6 genetic variants and perioperative methadone metabolism, and associations with pain scores and PONV.

Uterine fibroid is a benign i.e. a non-cancerous growth from the muscle layer of uterus & is medically referred as fibromyomas. It is generally formed of a mixture of muscle tissues containing fibrous tissue. Myomas are frequently multiple may be found in one uterus. The tumours tend to be spherical in shape & surrounded by pseudocapsule which consists of compressed normal uterine wall. Uterine fibroid tumors are the most common, non-cancerous pelvic masses that women experience. They arise from the muscular layer of the uterus, the myometrium [1].

For the last three decades, enormous manufacturing processes have been widely employed in the field of transportation (aviation, automobile, and marine) as well as various industrial sectors. Among the invented techniques, conventional manufacturing plays a versatile and cost-effective role, but additive manufacturing (AM) possesses a more significant advantage in handling complicated parts or complex geometrical structures. The conventional processes were used from ancient times until the development of other advanced techniques. In the recent development of technology, AM technology has shown a tremendous change in the manufacturing field. The process of development in AM began with polymers, then to composites, and advanced to nanocomposites continuously. AM provides a waste-free production management system with enhanced processes. Therefore, this detailed and compendious review describes the different stainless steels fabricated through conventional and AM techniques. It is evident that AM proves better than other several conventional techniques by three-dimensional (3D) printing of quality and complex stainless-steel components that are impossible to manufacture through other methods. Notwithstanding, there is still a need to improve AM technique by reducing the manufacturing cost, supporting mass production, and printing large stainless-steel components. With an increase in the invention of various efficient state-of-the-art engineering software, robots in manufacturing, artificial intelligence, and smart manufacturing, the aforementioned drawbacks of AM technique/3D printing of various stainless-steel structures will be soon eradicated.

Hard rock aquifer is the most predominant in the southern peninsula exclusively in Tamil Nadu, India. Virudhunagar district is situated in the South west part of Tamil Nadu, mostly of hard rock topography. Groundwater plays a major role in this area contributing to domestic, irrigation and industrial practices. Running down of groundwater by extreme consumption and less recharge in the study area has reduced the level of groundwater. On the other hand, intensive domestic, agriculture and industrial practices impacts the quality of quality of groundwater as well. Hydro geochemistry plays an important role in evaluation of suitability of groundwater for its usage in several purposes. A total of 72 samples from North East Monsoon (NEM) and Post Monsoon (POM) has been analyzed hydrochemically. The irrigation quality parameters such as sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), %Na, Residual Sodium Carbonate (RSC), Kelley’s index and Magnesium hazard were calculated using CHIDAM software 2020 in conjunction with USSL and Doneen diagrams. During NEM, EC and TDS ranges from 273 to 5869 mg/L and 194 to 4159 mg/L and during POM is from 235 to 6850 mg/L and 233.8 to 6916 mg/L. The hydrogeochemical facies represents that Ca-HCO3 and mixed Ca-Mg-Cl facies are predominant during NEM and Na-Cl and mixed Ca-Mg-Cl are predominant during POM. The higher concentration of TDS and EC in the samples reflects the unsuitability of groundwater in both seasons.

The human immune system is not adequately equipped to eliminate new microbes and could result in serious damage on first exposure. This is primarily attributed to the exaggerated immune response (inflammatory disease), which may prove detrimental to the host, as evidenced by SARS‐CoV‐2 infection. From the experiences of Novel Coronavirus Disease‐19 to date, male patients are likely to suffer from high‐intensity inflammation and disease severity than the female population. Hormones are considered the significant pillars of sex differences responsible for the discrepancy in immune response exhibited by males and females. Females appear to be better equipped to counter invading respiratory viral pathogens, including the novel SARS‐CoV‐2, than males. It can be hypothesized that females are more shielded from disease severity, probably owing to the diverse action/influence of estrogen and other sex hormones on both cellular (thymus‐derived T lymphocytes) and humoral immunity (antibodies)., Highlights Hormones are considered as significant pillars of sex differences and influence both the innate as well as adaptive immune responses.Sex hormones and their potential role in the immune responses has not been completely understood.Females are more shielded from disease severity probably owing to their unique hormonal constitution.In females, the immunological cells have been noted to restrict the spread of infections as compared to males.Males suffer from increased severity of respiratory infections and are less prone to autoimmune disorders as compared to the female counterparts.Estrogen and other sex hormones play a key role both in restricting the inflammatory responses and in effective clearance of pathogens including the novel Coronairus.

Disinfectants and sanitizers are essential preventive agents against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic; however, the pandemic crisis was marred by undue hype, which led to the indiscriminate use of disinfectants and sanitizers. Despite demonstrating a beneficial role in the control and prevention of COVID-19, there are crucial concerns regarding the large-scale use of disinfectants and sanitizers, including the side effects on human and animal health along with harmful impacts exerted on the environment and ecological balance. This article discusses the roles of disinfectants and sanitizers in the control and prevention of the current pandemic and highlights updated disinfection techniques against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). This article provides evidence of the deleterious effects of disinfectants and sanitizers exerted on humans, animals, and the environment as well as suggests mitigation strategies to reduce these effects. Additionally, potential technologies and approaches for the reduction of these effects and the development of safe, affordable, and effective disinfectants are discussed, particularly, eco-friendly technologies using nanotechnology and nanomedicine.

To evaluate the severity of primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) at presentation using visual field analysis and its relationship to demographic and ocular factors in patients presenting to a tertiary eye care centre. Cross-sectional study. Newly diagnosed POAG patients were classified as early, moderate, or severe stage in the worse eye based on the Humphrey visual field testing using Hodapp–Parrish–Andersons criteria. The groups were compared for differences in demographics and ocular characteristics. Statistical analysis was done using STATA 14.1 (Texas, USA). The average age of 71 eligible patients was 60.04 ± 9.53 years, and the cohort had 29.5% females. Among the subjects, 19 (26.7%) had early, 24 (33.3%) had moderate and 28 (38.89%) had severe POAG at presentation. There was no statistically significant difference among different stages of glaucoma with respect to age and sex groups. No statistical association was found with education, occupation status, presenting complaints, family history of glaucoma, or systemic diseases between the different stages of severity. 5.6% with severe disease presented with a relative afferent pupillary defect (RAPD). The mean intraocular pressure (IOP) in the severe stage was 22.54 ± 5.27 mmHg, which was not statistically higher than the other groups (P = 0.726). Newly diagnosed POAG patients predominantly present at moderate or severe stage of disease, reflecting either the asymptomatic nature of the disease or a lack of access to vision care services. Existing screening programmes need to be improved, with special attention to women and individuals less than 50 years of age.

A huge corpus of valuable information on customer experience is available as unstructured form in customer reviews on e-commerce websites. Multivariate data analysis techniques are effective in uncovering hidden patterns and segments in structured data. A major challenge is to convert the unstructured data into a structured form for applying multivariate techniques. In this article, we have provided a text analysis based approach coupled with multivariate techniques to uncover the sentiment of various features associated with different brands and to determine the brand positions and segments through perceptual mapping and cluster analysis.

Aim: To verify if computed tomography (CT) radiomics were reproducible by cone beam CT (CBCT) radiomics by using Catphan® 504. Materials and Methods: Catphan® 504 was imaged using the default IGRT OBI CBCT imaging protocols and CT scanner. Seven known density image regions of the phantom were segmented and image feature was extracted by Imaging Biomarker Explorer (IBEX) software. The 49 selected features from four feature categories were analyzed by considering each region of interest (ROI) segment as individual image set. Correlation was studies using interclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and Pearson’s correlation coefficient. Results: The ICC of the three feature categories, namely intensity, GLCM, and GLRLM was significant (p-value

Renewable raw materials and recyclable thermoplastic polymers provide attractive eco-friendly quality as well as environmental sustainability to the resulting recycled cotton/polyester and polyprop...

It is necessary to recognize the human knee movement for patients with knee joint pain (arthritis) and also in patients’ under-recovery. Pressure variation around the knee joint is considered as a ...

Background Globally, coronary artery disease (CAD) was the leading cause of health losses. The emergence of revascularization has brought a major change in the management of CAD. Depression and cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the two highly prevalent noncommunicable diseases (NCD), which lead to poor quality of life and high socio-economic loss for the patient. The rate of depressive episodes was higher in CAD population in comparison to population with other heart problems. Objectives The primary objective of the current study is to determine the proportion of those with depressive symptoms through Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) among CAD patients in a tertiary care public hospital. Methods It was a cross-sectional analytical design, which assess the percentage of patients with depressive symptoms among CAD patients, using a pretested, semistructured questionnaire. The PHQ-9 and EuroQoL five-dimensional three-level (EQ-5D-3L) questionnaire, a quality-of-life instrument (five items), were used, which was validated in the Tamil version. Statistical Analysis Categorical variables was expressed as proportion. We used Chi-square as a statistical test to calculate the p value and risk estimation with 95% CI. Results Out of 541 patients, 159 (30%) patients had mild-to-moderate depressive symptoms, of which 144 (89%) participants were greater than 50 years. In EQ-5D-3L, around one-third of the participants reported pain or discomfort and anxiety or depression. Conclusion The study concludes that the assessment of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is becoming increasingly important in the management of CAD patients. Studies have shown that depression predicts subsequent quality of life, while others have shown that HRQoL is a risk factor for ongoing depression. Treatment of depression may improve subsequent physical HRQoL; hence, it is vital to address both during their follow-up to improve outcomes among patients with CAD.

Delamination between any two plies is an important damage commonly seen in composite structures. It may initiate and grow in the composite laminates for different loading conditions, and it may finally lead to failure of the component under the cyclic loading. Therefore, fatigue life prediction in these structures is important to avoid the effects of delaminations in economic and safety considerations. The usage of artificial neural network (ANN) in estimating fatigue failure in composites with delaminations would be high. In this work, experimental fatigue data were obtained for glass fiber-reinforced composite beams with and without delaminations. The experimental results were used to train and test the neural network. Finally, ANN was found to be accurate tool for fatigue life estimation for composite materials with delaminations as it produces reasonably good fatigue life prediction for delaminated composites.

Oxycodone is a semisynthetic μ- and κ-opioid receptor with agonist with a broad scope of use including postoperative analgesia as well as control of neuropathic and cancer pain. Advantages over other opioids include prolonged duration of action, greater potency than morphine and lack of histamine release or ceiling effect. Individual responses to oxycodone can vary due to genetic differences. This review article aims to summarize the oxycodone literature and provide context on its pharmacogenomics and pharmacokinetics. The evidence for clinical effect of genetic polymorphisms on oxycodone is conflicting. There is stronger evidence linking polymorphic genetic enzymes CYP2D6 and CYP3A with therapeutic outcomes. Further, research is needed to discern all of oxycodone’s metabolites and their contribution to the overall analgesic effect.

PurposeCritics of claims about building information modeling’s (BIM’s) capability to revolutionize construction industry practices describe it as overhyped, fallacious and therefore suggest that there is need for a more critical examination of its change impacts. Others have posited that the changes BIM induces are evolutionary rather than revolutionary. In this vein, the purpose of this paper was to undertake a careful analysis of the nature of such changes to distil actual changes that happened, and the type of agency that brings such changes about.Design/methodology/approachDrawing from appropriate qualitative research strategies, data was collected through key informant interviews from consulting organizations in South Africa that have implemented BIM within their organizations and on projects.FindingsChanges in organizations’ work practices were evident in their workflows, formal/informal methods of interaction, norms, leadership and authority structures, remuneration and the way work was conceived or conceptualized. Furthermore, changes in organizational work practices do not solely occur through the direct agency of the BIM tool’s implementation. Instead, BIM-induced change occurs by delegated, conditional and needs-based agency – which are not mutually exclusive.Originality/valueThe nature of changes in professional work practices could be misconstrued as being solely because of the actions of agents who actively participate in implementing BIM. The discussion in the literature has, therefore, been advanced from general to specific theoretical understandings of BIM-induced change, which emphasize the need for construction stakeholders to actively participate in developing the innovations that drive change in the industry rather than hand the power to drive change to BIM authoring and management application developers who have less stake in the industry.

Trust is an essential parameter among sensor nodes to provide secured and successful communication. Many trust management schemes have been proposed earlier for large scale Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) however not cooperates well in terms of low dependability, memory overheads, large communication etc, therefore a system called Data Traffic Trust Scheme (DTTS) for clustered WSN is proposed here. Here the trust nodes are identified through the data traffic sampling rate. The trust rate is identified through the number of sent and receive data packets and the malicious packets are diagnosed through the un-matching packet rate. The simulation results are evaluated to show the efficiency for the proposed scheme.

The transorbital neuroendoscopic surgery (TONES), endoscopic transnasal skull base procedures, and the concept of multiportal minimal access neurosurgery are novel, rapidly evolving approaches in the management of complex skull base lesions. A 27-year-old male presented with a history of road traffic accident with nasal bleed, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) rhinorrhea, and left eye deformity. There was left upper eyelid ecchymosis, orbital dystopia, left pupil was dilated, and fixed with no extraocular movements. The computed tomography scan showed basifrontal contusion and complex comminuted anterior cranial fossa (ACF) fracture involving left cribriform plate and left orbital roof with fracture fragment impinging on the superior rectus muscle with suspicious orbital CSF leak. There was no improvement with conservative management. Hence, a novel combined TONES, transnasal endoscopic multiportal surgery was undertaken for the removal of fracture fragments and multi-layered closure of the complex ACF defect. The patient had a complete resolution of orbital dystopia and visual loss with no evidence of CSF leak postoperatively.

Prenatal opioid exposure (POE) has shown to be a risk factor for adverse long-term cognitive and behavioral outcomes in offspring. However, the neural mechanisms of these outcomes remain poorly understood. While preclinical and human studies suggest that these outcomes may be due to opioid-mediated changes in the fetal and early postnatal brain, other maternal, social, and environmental factors are also shown to play a role. Recent neuroimaging studies reveal brain alterations in children with POE. Early neuroimaging and novel methodology could provide an in vivo mechanistic understanding of opioid mediated alterations in developing brain. However, this is an area of ongoing research. In this review we explore recent imaging developments in POE, with emphasis on the neonatal and infant brain, and highlight some of the challenges of imaging the developing brain in this population. We also highlight evidence from animal models and imaging in older children and youth to understand areas where future research may be targeted in infants with POE.